After you, sir. No, after you.
As Goldman Sachs’ employees await word on the size of their bonuses, the gold-plated bank is hoping to tamp down some of the expected public rage by delaying details of the payments for at least another week — after the bank reports earnings tomorrow and after rivals reveal their compensation plans.
Typically, banks will provide compensation details at the same time they report earnings. Goldman is expected to report full-year results tomorrow.
However, some sources told The Post they suspect Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein is delaying when he tells his employees about compensation to deflect attention from the firm, especially since other firms, including rival Morgan Stanley, will report earlier than Goldman.
Goldman officials refuted the claim that Goldman was delaying the bonus information in order to avoid a p.r. flap, saying the delay was more the result of the bank changing the timeframe of its discussions with employees.
Added a Goldman spokesman: “It’s important to have context of earnings before we start communicating compensation.”
The size of Goldman’s bonus pool has been fodder for those on Main Street and in Washington for the better part of a year, in large part because the firm was on track to beat 2007’s record $21 billion bonus pool despite having come out of the worst recession in 70 years. Goldman is on pace to register a blockbuster year in bonuses after having already set aside $16.7 billion in its bonus pool by the third quarter.
However, the firm is likely to scale back the ratio at which it accumulates cash from the firm’s revenues to an all-time record low 40 percent or below in order to quell public ire over its pay packages.
Top executives are expected to take their bonuses in stock rather than a combination of stock and cash.